On paper, there’s nothing unusual about Marco Verratti opting to join the Qatari Sports League. He’s now into his 30s, he’s won the European Championship and nine domestic league titles, and he’s heading for semi-retirement in a league that already features the likes of Javi Martinez, Philippe Coutinho and Rodrigo.
But there’s something different about the case of Verratti compared to those players above or the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar or Sadio Mane over the border in Saudi Arabia. Those footballers had peaked, achieved everything they were going to at football’s highest level, and are on the way down. In Verratti’s case, it felt like there was still more to come.
Verratti was a much-hyped footballer before he’d even appeared in a major league. In 2011-12, his performances in Serie B with Zdenek Zeman’s title-winning Pescara, where he played alongside Lorenzo Insigne and Ciro Immobile, drew comparisons to Andrea Pirlo and he was already being spoken about as the future of the national side.
Verratti was linked with almost every major Italian club and his decision to join Paris Saint-Germain, then in the formative stages of their development into one of Europe’s giants, was a significant blow to Serie A. Italy was robbed of its most talented emerging footballer, although few at the time would have predicted Verratti would be away from Italy for the next 11 years and now, possibly, for his entire top-flight career.
It’s entirely arguable that his move to Ligue 1 was a success; not only did he win the title nine times, he was voted into the division’s team of the year in each of his first seven seasons. But, like every superstar at PSG, the title is considered a foregone conclusion and week-in, week-out performances against domestic opposition are not a reliable barometer of quality.
It’s even more difficult to judge a player like Verratti compared to attackers like Kylian Mbappe or Neymar. Against opponents who almost exclusively sit back against them, the attackers often still have to produce a moment of magic, but the primary job of a player in Verratti’s role is to put his side in charge of the game. That simply wasn’t a challenge for the majority of PSG’s matches.
Therefore, Verratti was judged almost solely on his performances in the Champions League knockout phase. He was at home on that stage almost immediately, memorably replacing David Beckham against Barcelona in 2013 and looking comfortable playing up against the defining midfielders of that era.
But over the next half-decade, it was difficult to detect the kind of improvement you would have expected from a player with his intelligence and passing range. He couldn’t dominate the game, or help relieve the pressure, when PSG capitulated 6-1 away at Barcelona in 2017 and he was overrun when PSG were eliminated 5-2 on aggregate by Real Madrid in 2018. This was a player who simply hadn’t been pushed hard enough on a regular basis.
Verratti playing against Barcelona in the Champions League in 2017 (Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)
Verratti was not a perfect footballer. He never offered a regular goal threat, even considering his deep positioning. He missed too many games through injury and he spent too much of matches on his backside, sliding into tackles he couldn’t win.
At times, it felt like the Champions League hadn’t truly begun until you saw a television graphic reading ‘6 Marco Verratti – Yellow Card’, but that was the likeable thing: Verratti wasn’t a generic midfielder; a 7/10 in every area. He had his own style, his own personality, his own footballing ideology.
In recent years, his performances were more assured; he was particularly impressive when PSG thrashed Barcelona 4-1 at the Camp Nou in 2021. It’s notable how clashes against Barca have dominated his career considering his style would have fitted perfectly at the Camp Nou.
Several Barcelona legends are big admirers. “He’s one of the best midfielders in the world and plays a little bit in the same way as I tried to,” said Xavi Hernandez. “He likes having the ball. He also has perfect mastery over long and short passing, he can play the final ball, and he doesn’t lose it easily. He’s really a very high-class player.”
Andres Iniesta said he was good enough to be his successor, while Lionel Messi, after playing alongside Verratti for PSG, called him “a huge player, one of the best in the world in his position”.
Celebrating Italy’s Euro 2020 triumph at Wembley (Claudio Villa/Getty Images)
Verratti helped to prove that point at Euro 2020. Despite missing Italy’s first two matches through injury, he was one of the tournament’s most impressive players, dominating possession alongside the similar if more defensively minded Jorginho. But it was also a relatively rare sight of Verratti at a major tournament. He didn’t get past the group stage at World Cup 2014, missed Euro 2016 through injury, while Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
So we’re left with a footballer who, in terms of passing range and according to some of the greatest players in history, was one of the best midfielders around. And while attackers who rely on speed are often over the hill by 30, some of the best deep midfielders of this century — Xavi, Pirlo, Xabi Alonso, Paul Scholes — received the greatest plaudits as tricenarians. It’s fair to feel a little short-changed.
Signing for Al-Arabi is not automatically the end of Verratti’s top-level career. Maybe he’ll spend a couple of years in Qatar and then make a long-awaited return to Italy — although if Ligue 1 didn’t really stretch him, it’s unlikely he’ll be fulfilling his potential in the Qatar Stars League.
New Italy manager Luciano Spalletti seemingly omitted him from the squad for the current international break amid concerns over a lack of playing time, although some reports in Italy suggested Verratti had turned down the call-up.
And all this seems — more than in the cases of the ageing Ronaldo, the exhausted Neymar or even the probably-not-quite-top-class Ruben Neves — something of a waste.
Marco Verratti was probably among the best midfielders of his generation, but having never tested himself in one of the best leagues and having only gone deep in one major international tournament, it’s difficult to be sure.
(Top photo: Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty Images)
